Swindon is a town with an image problem. Celebrities such as Billie Piper and
Mark Lamarr, who grew up there, mention the town in interviews with a sigh
of apology.
So, what’s wrong with Swindon? It’s been named as one of the Government’s 29
new growth points and has a very handy location — on the mainline railway
and the M4 to London. It’s within striking distance of the West Country and
is surrounded by the Cotswolds. Graham Coton, a partner at Dreweatt Neate
estate agents, thinks that he has the answer. “Our problem is we don’t have
the River Thames, or a park, or a cathedral or even beautiful period
houses,” he says. “Swindon is a town without a heart.”
It is a commonly held belief and now something is to be done about it. A £1
billion regeneration scheme is under way, funded by a mixture of public and
private investment, that will transform the town centre. It is an initiative
that is long overdue, according to Carol Heneghan, the marketing manager
with the New Swindon Company that is overseeing the regeneration. “Swindon
has expanded dramatically on its fringes but most people avoid coming into
the centre,” she says. “At present we are attracting top executives to our
business parks but they are living in the villages outside and shopping
elsewhere. There are 30,000 office workers in the centre of Swindon but most
don’t even bother to come out for lunch.”
This ambitious regeneration plan includes a new cultural centre with a
library, museum, art gallery and theatre, a new retail centre, an office
park with 26,246 sq ft (8,000 sq m) of industrial units, and a new railway
station area. Essentially, it involves knocking down the worst of the 1960s
concrete eyesores in the town centre and linking what is left into a clean,
new-look town, full of elevated walkways, piazzas and green spaces. The
broader plan is to bring people back into the centre to live, so fuelling
its economy.
Sam Kent, a 39-year-old financial services manager, who has bought a
two-bedroom flat for £210,000 in the Paramount apartment development,
believes that this is a good time to swap life on the outskirts for central
Swindon. “The regeneration plans show that there’s not going to be the
saturation level of apartments you see in, say, Birmingham.” she says. “I
bought my apartment partly as an investment. As the centre becomes more
desirable in coming years, prices should rise steeply.”
Property prices in Swindon, generally, are reasonable compared with the rest
of the M4 corridor. Graham Coton says that many of his clients are
first-time buyers who have already looked at Reading and Newbury but have
found them too expensive. By way of comparison, a similar apartment to Sam
Kent’s would cost about £40,000 more in the two Berkshire towns, although
both are only a short drive along the motorway.
Good-value new homes have also been built on the flat lands between the town
and the M4. Although these developments have been criticised for being
soulless and bland, many residents disagree. “I have found there’s a very
good social scene here because the estates are full of like-minded people of
a similar age,” says Will Coupland, a 28-year-old sales manager who lives in
a four-bedroom townhouse on the huge Priory Vale development.
“When I moved here three years ago I paid £200,000 for my house, and a friend
in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, reckoned if the house were near him it would
have cost £280,000.”
Swindon is also attracting wealthy executives, notably to its bigger companies
such as BMW, Nationwide, Honda and Intel. They often commute from the
outlying villages, such as Warnborough and Bishopstone, where, as a guide,
you will pay about £615,000 for a four-bedroom cottage. In Swindon itself,
homes in Broome Manor Lane, built in the 1970s near the golf course, are
much sought after. Old Town, with its bars, restaurants and arts centre, is
also popular. Originally built for the railway workers, it has a curious
social gradation. Management used to live at the top of the hill and the
oily fingered engineers would be at the bottom. Today you’ll pay between
£320,000 and £360,000 for a three-bedroom Victorian executive’s house;
you’ll pick up a smaller home at the bottom of the hill for as little as
£130,000. Coincidentally, a development of 38 new apartments built in
Villetts House, in Cricklade Street, Old Town, which was once deemed the
“finest house in Swindon” by John Betjeman, has just come on the market.
Prices start at £166,995 for a two-bedroom flat with parking.
The town is also attracting more buy-to-let investors. The population of
Swindon is expected to grow from its present 180,000 to 250,000 by 2026 and
many of those newcomers will need to rent, at least in the short term.
Two-bedroom apartments in the Paramount are letting for up to £800 a month.
Will regeneration provide Swindon with the “heart” it so badly needs? Locals
old enough to remember the town centre revamp of the 1960s treat the idea
with heard-it-all-before cynicism. However, Carol Heneghan is bullish: “This
project is exciting because it will mean working with a blank canvas,
building a brand new centre,” she says. “I think the new Arena area — a
landscaped public space with high-quality water features — will become the
heart of the new Swindon.”
Paramount apartments cost from £167,000 to £260,000. 01793 619100, www.paramount-apartments.co.uk
Villetts House apartments, Ward Homes/David Wilson Homes: 0800 234455
Dreweatt Neate: 01793 489300 www.dreweatt-neate.co.uk
I live exactly half way between Swindon and Oxford. If I have any shopping to do I go to Swindon. Parking is cheaper, congestion is less, people are more down to earth and you are not swamped by dithering tourists. In Swindon you will encounter fewer drunk or drugged or homeless people and its multi storey carparks do not leave me feeling intimidated and wary.
Swindon has areas of real beauty. The parks of Old Town are beautiful and the museum of art - though small - often boasts significant artists displaying on its walls. Shopping is a breeze and access to London and Bristol is easy - no A 34 to contend with!
I like Swindon - it's about time it got the recognition it deserves - and city status wouldn't be a bad thing either!
A Swindon Fan, Faringdon, UK